Winning Wine at a Local Halloween-Themed Charity Fundraiser

I've been receiving wine shipments from several of the best wine of the month clubs(and show people the best wine club gifts) for almost two years now. Key parts of reviewing these wine clubs is to (a) receive the shipments, (b) take a lot of photos and (c) make a lot of videos to show you what you get when you buy them.

But winning wine? Now that is always fun!

You see, I'm not eligible to win the wine that our sponsors, friends and preferred wine clubs supply in our “Win Free Wine Contests“. So, when I won this basket of wine (pictured below), I was really excited.

My family has been involved in a small local chapter of the Civitans for about 30 years. This group does a number of philanthropic works, with a particular focus on supporting the Special Olympics. In order to do these charitable works, they raise money – as must all philanthropic groups. The other night, I attended their most recent fundraising event called, “Halloween Tea”. They've been doing this for a few years. (I found this pic online from a halloween tea event in 2011.)

This event was really cute and filled with family and friends I've known through the Civitans for years. It was held at the local library in a community room. The room was laid out as you might expect an event like this would: round banquet tables in the center of the room for guests, long rectangular tables lined the walls around the perimeter of the room loaded with food, beverages and raffle items.

The guest tables were more than just a place to sit — they were an integral part of the event. Each of the 10 banquet tables were heavily decorated, all competing for “The Best Halloween Themed Table Award”. Personally, I found myself conflicted on where to cast my votes, as my Mother and Aunt Beth each had a table in the competition. (Luckily, my date and I had two votes, so I simply gave one to each!)

Around the perimeter of the room was a number of raffle items. Raffle tickets were 6 for $5. I bought $20 worth and put a majority of them on the highly-coveted Wine Gift Basket. (Turns out, many of the attendees found this basket very appealing, based on the volume of raffle tickets trying to win this item!) In addition to the wine gift basket, there were halloween themed items, knick-knacks, movie-passes, plants and more. (But I really wanted to win that wine basket.)

My long time friends Ron and Peg Kulas had created this basket for this event. It was really well done! There was Vampire Chardonnay and Zombe Zin, along with two spooky spider wine glasses. And, of course, the basket needed some filler — so they hooked it up with Harry and David Chocolates! (Yum – wine and chocolate. I know Tricia is jealous.)

I gotta tell ya, when they read the winning raffle ticket for the wine basket, I asked them to repeat it, because I was pretty sure that I actually had that ticket in my hand! Oh yeah, I won it. Since a lot of the folks at this event know about this website, and my love for wine, I felt extra lucky to win this wine basket.

So, even though I continually receive a number of wine shipments every month and I review lots of wine clubs — it really is fun to win wine!

Be sure to enter our Wine Club Giveaways and Contests so you, too, can win wine. (Remember, I'm not eligible. But you are! So give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen?)